KANSAS CITY, Mo. (DTN) -- EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy knows she has a lot of damage to repair in the agency's relationship with agriculture -- a relationship that continues to be strained by a gap between what she said was the intent of the proposed Clean Water Act rule and the outcry coming from rural America.

McCarthy wrapped up a two-day tour across Missouri last week, first talking to farmers near Columbia and ending with a speech before the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City Thursday. The EPA head looked weary as she sat down for an interview with DTN ...